You guys who do your own calendars, who do you go through? I know there are some online places that I've seen, but the cost seems a tad high to then sell them and expect to even break even. Am I missing an obvious way to do them cheaper? I always wait and wait and wait and then all of a sudden it's December and I think, "oh, yeah, calendars."

Avoid Lulu.com; the last few years their color reproduction has been absolutely horrible. In 2008 I ended up with 90 free poorly-printed copies of my calendar because in three attempts they were unable to match the perfect colors in the proof copy I had made for my 30-copy bulk order, and then they subsequently refunded what I had paid in the first place. I haven't used them since.

CafePress has done a pretty good job for me the last two years (here's my 2010 calendar), but as you point out the unit price is fairly high (before creator markup: $16.99/each, bulk discount of $11.04/each at 15+ copies). This year they also had an issue reproducing shadow details in large areas of dark colors; I originally used this photo for November...

I've heard good things about Mpix but don't have any experience with their calendars (though their large prints are spectacular). I'm hesitant to use them, though, because their prices are pretty high -- $20/each, and you have to order 51-100 to get a bulk discount of $15.40/each. I'm also not sure if Mpix has print-on-demand services for the general public to use for purchasing copies, which is a benefit of Lulu and CafePress.

I do calendars every year as Christmas gifts for my family and such. I go through Photoshop, who sends them Kodak to print them. They do a good job, in my mind, but it is really expensive: $25 a pop and I think $20-23 for bulk orders of 25+.

I did a calendar this year, of non-train stuff and used zazzle, I was less than pleased with the quality. Everyone who got one loved it, but I saw their flaws and was pissed. I had done picture books through them before and quality was decent, but these calendars blew and I will be looking elsewhere if / when I do this again.

If you're looking to make money with calendars you'll have better luck sending them to UP, CP, TTX, McMillan, or anyone else who will send you a check and take care of distribution and sales themselves.

If you're looking to make money with calendars you'll have better luck sending them to UP, CP, TTX, McMillan, or anyone else who will send you a check and take care of distribution and sales themselves.